The Last Post

so i thought it would be a great idea to blog while i was away on both of these trips,l and for the most part i think it worked out, but the lack of internet access(as can be expected when at best there is intermittent electricity in Uganda) didnt help out too much.  I havent written since sept 28th… a lot has happened.    After Nairobi, I stayed in an area near the coast south of Mombasa. It was amazing. well that is aside from the fact that it was so humid that i couldnt take out my video camera, and the pages of my books began to curl. Something else that was less than desirable was the fact that the electrical wiring in the hut where i was staying wasn’t quite up to snuff. It was just by bad luck that i figured that out sopping wet while in the shower; not the best place to be electrocuted. I had to run around and turn off all the lights. i really shouldn’t have got back in the shower, but i thought that id solved the problem and with no fear grabbed the faucet… it jolted me so hard that I slipped, nailed the wall and nearly split my head on the tiling. I eventually found the breaker and shut down the power, then i got good and clean.   We headed back to Uganda, but this time by air so as to avoid being lined up and executed by Kenyan authorities at the checkpoints like I managed to convince myself was going to happen on the way in. We spent a day in Kampala getting organised and prepared for the interviews and meetings that we had set up in a village called Kitengesa. The village is in the South West of Uganda and YouLead has been involved with the community there for 5 years.  The town was great, the people were friendly, and the food was good. well… it tasted good…and it looked good… I was deceived . I was foolish and ate like a madman, only to wake up scrambling to find my headlamp(there is no electricity) in order to get to the bathroom without purging my digestive systemin my bed or the hallway. My mosquito net was the main obstacle as i couldnt manage to escape from my bed and almost tore the thing down. I did make it though and we did have running water at the time which was a very good thing. It had been going on and off for days and considering that three of us got sick, and the other two had it coming out both ends the plumbing gods were smiling down on me.  The time there was good. We were able to meet with the school, the womens group in town and see how aid can have a positive impact on not only providing for communities, but in helping them create sustainable economic growth.  As it turned out we were never able to make it up to Gulu. Im disappointed but what can you do. All in all the trip was very good. I was able to see a different part of africa, much different than those that id seen before and also a more corporate side of aid. Im not really in the mood to get any deeper than that at this point but give me a call and  we can talk about it.  cheers. -B 

Nairobi II

I cant remember what ive written, so im sorry if im repeating myself:

 Yesterday we met with a group of people that are working on developing their NGO called Hand of Hope Africa. They operate in rural areas where there are no other local or international NGOs. Their mandate is to help alieviate the hardship of child headed households and orphans who live in communities ravages by poverty and HIV/Aids. They are such great people. What theyre doing is amazing and i think that YouLead is going to take a leadership role in helping them develop and gain sustainable finding as well as provide them with capable volunteers.

Today we went into the slums outside Nairobi and spoke with an org called YESS which is a youth based org which educates kids in the slums about HIV/Aids and empowers them to speak to their friends and family about the reality of the virus. It is completely run by university students. It left me feeling somewhat humbled as these people come from all over kenya, are supporing themselves through university and are volunteering their time to help kids and combat the spread of HIV/Aids in the slums. 

I dare anyone to complain to me about tuition fees at UBC.

Nairobi

So we’re leaving right now to go to Kibera which is one of the largest slums in africa, to meet with an NGO called YESS. I also just found out that we’re going to be going to gulu to meet with an org that works with reformed child soldiers. B

The Akamba – aka The Deathtrap

Its been an eventful couple of days. I was feeling a bit restless because things were moving very slowly. We were suppossed to leave Kampala on monday in the morning, then at noon, then we were told that the truck wasnt going to be fixed until the evening, and that we should just leave the next day. I was hot, sweaty and had stuffed myself so full of guacamole and chips that i was ready to hunt down the mechanic and strangle him. Lucky for him and me, (the idea of being in a Ugandan prison isnt appealing) we did get the truck and left around 3pm.

 I spent the next day atthe TASO centre in Mbale with support groups for discordent couples with HIV(one spouse is infected, but the other isn’t), with mothers who are infected but whose babies aren’t, and newly tested individuals who are receiving their first counselling session. I also toured the facility which serves the community and provides some of the ‘clients’ with support and medication but also as a place of refuge. There is a place for the women to do crafts and the woman who was showing me around said that many people like to come and to talk with others that are infected, and that discussion is some of the best therapy. In a country where HIV is still taboo I understand, especially because in some communities if you are found to be positive, your picture is posted with a warning in the local newspaper.

I also had the opportunity to speak with some people who are working in Uganda with TASO in a program called TEACH which brings in individuals from other HIV/AIDS organisations in other African countries to learn from the success that TASO has had in Uganda. There were social workers, doctors, IT specialists as well as a government advisor. The one guy I spoke to that is an advisor, works as an advisor for HIV/AIDS for the government of Ghana. He was recently threatened by a minister in the government to stop speaking out about the crisis and the inaction of the government or else he would be killed. I was wide-eyed and open mouthed, while the others from Tanzania, Ghana, and Ethiopia nodded in understanding.

About the Akamba though… it is a bus that I took from Mbale to Nairobi yesterday. It was suppossed to leave at 5 to get into Nairobi at 6am. I wasnt worried, because from the outside they looked pretty nice compared to alot of the Matatus or taxis. I should ahve known that it wasnt a good idea when i found out that the overnight trip into Kenya was going to cost $7 Canadian. The only thing i could come up with was that our particular bus had been salvaged from a scrap yard and the interior was a collection of old seats and luggage racks from old long retired busses. We left at 615, with a strange thick brown liquid dripping on the seat in front of me from the luggage racks ahead. It was then that i noticed on the headrest of my chair that i had some liquid of my own, but it was of the cloudy grey variety. It also didn’t make me feel any better that I had torn the skin off of my right midle finger on the grimy luggage rack trying to stuff my bag overhead. Thank god i got a tetanus shot. Anyway, we got moving, with me sitting precariously between the dripping brown liquid in front and the goo behind me, clutching my bleeding finger hoping that the 13 hour journey would miraculously be reduced by 95%. it wasn’t. There is a lot more that happened on thatr particular journey, such as the bus driving away from me at the border and me running full out to catch it, everyone being taken out of the bus by the police and put into two lines in front of the bus as we were searched and questioned by guys with rifles, but i have to go. Ill write more soon.

Uganda

So, i guess i kinda jumped the gun sending out the massive message on facebook telling everyone about  this life changing blog that im writing, only then to leave you all waiting for a week with no post. Sorry about that.

So i flew into Entebe and was greeted by  pouring rain. It was a bit disconcerting not only because of the floods in the north, but also because i figured that since i was going to africa i wouldnt need any protection for the camera from water and scoffed at the guy who suggested it.  what did he know…. well a hell of a lot more than me about uganda apparently.

The first day in i met with the people from TASO about their AGM which was the next day. TASO stands for The Aids Support Organisation. They are on of the best aids support organisations in the world and are in part one of the main reasons thatr |Uganda has been the most successful countries in combatting the spread of HIV/Aids. I had agreed to film the event for them so that they didnt have to hire a videographer. I met with them quickly and we went over what they wanted to cover and how the meeting would proceed.

 I was suppossed to be there at 7am to set up and the event was to start at 9. I was very worried, because we couldt get there on time and i didnt arrive until just after 8. I felt a bit better when i got there, however, because the people that were supposed to be there at 6 to set up had just arrived. have you ever heard of africa time? uh huh. so had i. but what i didnt know i that when they say they are going to  start at 9 and be done by 130, what they actually meant was that they say that it starts at 9 so they can get started by noon, and be done by 5. There were 3000 attendees in the room and it was the first day that was actually sunny.

brent in jeans and button-up shirt, with a camera in 30 degree heat running around trying to film the AGM being told by 5 different people to cover 15 things at the same time and no extra deodorant… interesting.

I finished at about 6pm, completely corss-eyed. I was trying to decide weather or no id look good with coke-bottle glasses. I figured i could pull them off.  

Yesterday we went up to Jinja which is a town to the east of Kampala. the architecture is largely indian and was built by indian settlers in the 50’s. It is also clos to the source of the nile and where ghandi’s ashes were sprinkled in the nile.

we leave today to head into the rural areas and visit TASO care centres, then will go into Kenya for meetings and visit placements in Kibera.

talk soon, B

Uganda and Kenya Bound

On the 18th, Ill be leaving for Uganda and Kenya to continue my research on African aid as well as  filming “Go Volunteer” student placements. I will be filming the entire trip and look forward to meeting more people and conversing with them about African aid, and comparing the differences and similarities between South Africa/Swaziland with Uganda/Kenya. As most of you know I do not have a camera anymore, so I won’t be uploading photos, but I’ll try to make the posts as descriptive as possible. talk soon. B

 

In conclusion…

So im going to warn you that this may seem melodramatic, so forgive me, but I wanted to use this post to try to sum up the trip and talk about where the documentary is going from here etc.

Im going to start by saying that the chasm that lies between the developed nations and those that i visited in Africa is enormous. There is a deep and profound disconnect that exists, where there should be truth and understanding. Through the media people in the ‘west’ have a view of africa as somehow unhuman and inferior. The reality is that i think people want to dissociate themselves from the issues because contronting them is too difficult. You even see it in Africa; in Joburg people live in their multi-million dollar homes and drive their bentley’s 15 minutes away families are dying one by one of a disease thats treatable with ARVs and they feel no moral obligation to help.

The kinds of things that people have gone through, are going through or will have to go through are more than i can fathom. While i was in africa, the billboards promoting abstinence and aids awareness, the free HIV testing facilities in train stations, the stories that i heard in interviews with kids that had been orphaned by aids; none of it really sunk in. But now, after having left its slowly creeping forward. The reality of the situation becomes real because I have a stark comparison in front of me wherever i look. The scary thing is that no matter what I write, what stories I tell, or what arguments I make, you wont get it. I dont even get it yet, but im beginning to.

What frightens me is that i know how i feel right now but will i mask it in a month? will i try to fiorget about the kid who at 22 had been looking after his 5 siblings for the past 6 years after his parents died of aids? Will i think of the two girls who had to bury their mother outside the fron door of their hut because they didnt have the money for a burial, while i eat a meal that costs the same amount as thier school fees for a year? I dont know. I think that there is a balance that will emerge, but right now i dont know how its going to work.

In regards to my documentary, Ive realised that the issues that i was going to touch on are bigger than i could have imagined and i need to rethink the whle thing. -more on that later.

Id like to end on a high note though. I met a woman in swaziland who works for SOS childrens villages. We were walkiong back toward the village after having visited a family whos hut the organisation had replaced with a two room bulding for the 5 member family. I asked her how difficult it was keeping people motivated and positive when you have 70,000+ aids orpans in a country with only 1.2 million people. What she said was that, “HIV/AIDS has given Swazi’s the the oppotunity to come together, for them to confront the problems and work to solve them as a collective unit.”

Hearing that statement from someone in a country where 45% of the population is HIV+ was shocking to me. If she and the people in her community can be optimistic and dilligent in fighting these issues, why cant I, or anyone else?

Leaving Africa

So this visit is over. It went by so fast but at the same time i feel like its been months since i first landed.

Over the last couple of days things have gone well. The group from sauder and I went back up to swazi to go on safari for the night. It was amazing. Lions, Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos. Very cool. 

We also tried to go to Mozambique yesterday morning, and were all punped to see the indian ocean, but it didnt quite work out. We got all the way to the border, got our passports stamped, and when we went to get through the border crossing we found out that Avis has banned their cars from entering the country. ya. not cool. So we began the journey back through swazi to joburg.

I also saw a wild warthog. i think it was the ugliests cutest animal ive ever seen. you figure that out.

Ill write a summary about the trip later though because i cant really articulate it yet.

B

Tuesday

So its tuesday today. I have one more day here in Joburg and them am off to Swaziland again for two days before flying back to Vancouver. Nothing too exciting has happened recently. We’re writing up our report for the Aids ministry today and will submit it tomorrow.

I interviewed a guy yesterday who has worked for several aid organisations in afrtica and the picture that he and other people have painted for me in regards to African aid is depressing. Very depressing. Its interesting being here as a foreigner wanting to help, yet seeing africans who themselves have no interest in contributing to the solution. Its a much more complex and conveluted problem than i could have ever have anticipated.

I also had my camera(picture not video) stolen off me the day before last which has been demoralising, but everything happens for a reason. eughh.

we’re going to see a musical tonight which i think is called Imojo or something like that. It should be great. Its about life in SA during apartheid.

Brent

Death by Springbok

OK so i learned a couple things in the past couple days:

- Dont try to get through a toll booth at night outside joburg with a Canadian cerdit card… they dont take them and if you dont have cash they’ll tell you to stand on the side of the highway and ask people for money as they drive past.

- Sitting in the back of a pickup truck on side roads in swaziland sounds fun but can be very unsetttling.

- speaking of roads; there isnt a highway to swazi from joburg, its all side roads that arent lit.

- on lighting: dont rent a car from avis beucase the lights may need to be adjusted and you could be driving blind in rural africa.

- avoid walking around in Alex(outside joburg) with a camcorder; people “make calls’ and let thugs know where you are so they can mug you. luckily there are also very kind people in the area who will tel you if you’ve been “called in” so you can run the hell out.

- chicken livers are very popular here. i dont know why.

- From the individuals that i have met, the members of the Swazi royal family are great.

- and lastly, when driving in africa, keep your eeys peeled for springboks; they seem to like to dart in front of VW polos carrying Canadian tourists on unlit highways. Death by sprinkbok would not be a good way to go.

brent